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Was Darwin Wrong? One-page Synopsis

From the air to the depths of the oceans our planet Earth is teeming with life. To some, it's a miracle – but can science explain how all this came into existence? Critics have attacked the theory of evolution for 150 years. They claim it is full of holes, and the gaps reveal the hand of an Intelligent Designer. Who's right? Naked Science investigates the most explosive science of them all and asks, was Darwin wrong?

When Darwin published the Origin of Species in 1859 his ideas rocked the world. His claim, that nature and nature alone could create all life, removed the need for an Intelligent Designer. Overnight religious explanations of existence became redundant. But 150 years later, Darwin’s theory is still under attack. We look at the claims Darwin made and see how they measure up in the light of modern science.

Part 1: The fossil record

Darwin claimed that life was old. But was he right? We travel to Australia to find the oldest fossil on the planet – a wavy mat of bacteria called a stromatolite. When scientists dated it, they found it was 3.5 billion years old. Darwin also claimed that life started out simple and became more complex. Analysis of the fossil record shows that he was right.

Part 2: Complexity

Life is an engineering marvel. Organs like wings, hearts, and the brain are so complex that many people think they must have been designed. Yet Darwin claimed that they were made by natural selection. We explain how natural selection works, and examine the case of the eye. When critics attack Darwin’s theory, often the first thing they go for is the eyes. At Lund University in Sweden, Professor Dan-Eric Nilsson demonstrates how the eye could have evolved step by step, just as Darwin said it did.

Part 3: Missing Links

According to evolutionary theory, some of the most familiar animals – birds, reptiles, mammals, including humans – all owe their existence to an extraordinary event. Around 375 million years ago fish came out of the water and started to walk on the land. But there’s a problem with this theory. Where is the missing link between fish and amphibians? Professor Neil Shubin, of the University of Chicago and Chicago’s Field Museum, heads off to the Canadian Arctic on a hunt for this key transitional life form. The fossil he brings back – known as Tiktaalik – provides stunning confirmation of Darwin’s theory.

Part 4: Sexual Selection

Darwin’s theory of natural selection easily explains how animals developed camouflage – animals that can’t be seen are less likely to be eaten. But how does it explain brightly colored birds like the peacock. How can animals evolve that are so visible they appear to be saying, “here’s lunch”? To explain this, Darwin came up with the idea of sexual selection: female birds preferred males with bigger and brighter tails. Professor Marion Petrie’s work with peacocks in England, and Professor Tim Mousseau’s study of barn swallows at Chernobyl, shows that Darwin’s idea still stands up today.

Part 5: Genes and switches

For years, no one knew how evolution happened, but recent breakthroughs in genetics have revealed stunning details of just how one creature is transformed into another. At Berkeley, Professor Mike Levine and grad student, Brad Davidson, reveal that just one small genetic change can turn a single-chambered heart into a two-chambered heart. Animals share a tool-kit of genes of genes that determines their structure. How these genes are switched on, or off, determines how an embryo grows. Stanford professor, David Kingsley, studies sticklebacks. His work reveals the genetic mechanism that may have transformed land animals into whales.

ASPECT RATIO 4.3
MAIN SOUNDTRACK English Stereo
DISC FORMAT DVD 5
REGION 1 NTSC
CLASSIFICATION Exempt
NOTE Not available for shipment outside the USA

Runtime: 54 minutes